McClain, Moolenaar sign letter pressing Biden to end COVID-19 emergency
Nearly two dozen reps sign the letter, which calls Biden’s use of emergency powers “akin to dictatorship”
Two members of Michigan’s congressional delegation — Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Bruce Township, and Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland — signed a letter to President Joe Biden Thursday, urging the end of the COVID-19 emergency. They joined nearly two dozen colleagues in doing so.
The letter was signed by 23 members of Congress, all Republicans, and was obtained by The Daily Caller. In January, Republicans will take control of the U.S. House. Biden has extended the COVID-19 emergency through April 2023.
“[A]fter trillions of dollars spent on relief efforts, as well as your own assertion in September that the ‘pandemic is over,’ we are perplexed as to why your administration desires that the PHE [public health emergency] be continued,” the letter reads. “Nearly three years have elapsed since its original declaration and the metrics of returning to a normal healthcare status in the United States have been reached.”
Thursday’s letter means that Biden has now faced pressure from both houses of Congress to end the COVID-19 emergency, which dates to March 2020.
Last month, 62 senators voted to terminate the COVID emergency. Thursday’s letter cited that Nov. 15 vote. It reads, in part:
“On November 15, 2022, the Senate passed S.J. Res 63 by an overwhelming majority which would effectively terminate the national emergency declared by the President on March 13, 2020. In response, the Office of Management and Budget published a Statement of Administration Policy, with zero objective data to support the reasoning, stating the President will veto the joint resolution.”
The letter continues: “Your administration continues to exercise unprecedented executive powers reserved for national emergencies. Our nation is simply no longer in such a state and the continuation of this abuse of power is akin to dictatorship.”
The letter asks eight questions of the Biden administration, including when it plans to end the public health emergency, the continued rationale for continuing it, the objective of the emergency, the scientific metrics the administration will use to end it, and its estimated cost.
Read the letter from 23 members of Congress to President Biden.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.